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Google’s AI Overviews ‘Misconduct’ Undermines Publishers Who Create Content, Lawsuit Says

Penske Media, which publishes Rolling Stone, Billboard, ArtForum and others, says that AI Overviews in Google search stymie their traffic, undercut their revenue and mean less content for consumers.

Penske Media, which owns publications including Rolling Stone, Variety and Billboard, is suing Google, alleging that the search giant is illegally using their content and that of other publishers to fill out the AI Overviews that have become a fixture at the top of Google search results. 

In a lawsuit filed Friday in US District Court for the District of Columbia, Penske argues that Google’s «misconduct» through its monopoly in online search has coerced publishers to acquiesce to misappropriation of their content, diverting readers away from publishers’ own sites and depriving them of the ability to earn money from content created by their journalists.

«It is reasonably foreseeable that Google’s forced entry into the online publishing output market will result in less traffic to other online publishers, less revenue to the online publishers that actually generate their own content, and, as a result, less online publishing content for consumers,» Penske’s complaint says.

In 2024, that same district court ruled that Google illegally protects its search monopoly. Earlier this month, Judge Amit Mehta issued the penalty finding in that case, saying that the company must share some of its search data with competitors. 

Google on Monday pushed back against Penske’s lawsuit, saying that it is providing a valuable service.

«Every day, Google sends billions of clicks to sites across the web, and AI Overviews send traffic to a greater diversity of sites,» said José Castañeda, a policy communications manager at Google. «We will defend against these meritless claims.»

Penske didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The company also publishes The Hollywood Reporter, Indiewire, WWD (Women’s Wear Daily), ArtNews, ArtForum and others.

For decades, there’s been a mutual relationship between online publishers and Google. By indexing sites across the internet, the search giant can deliver up-to-date and relevant information for people’s queries. In exchange for letting Google — which has a nearly 90% share of the search market — crawl their sites, publishers get traffic through those search results, as long as people have reason to click through.

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With the advent of generative AI tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, however, that relationship is changing. Instead of you having to take the time to scour through lists of links, and then read through a selection of articles and webpages, you get a neatly synthesized summary in seconds that combines information from the AI tools’ training data and directly from the web.

A wide spectrum of publishers and authors has contended that AI companies trained their AI models without proper licensing and are profiting from high-quality human-made content. For that reason, some have sued OpenAI, Perplexity, Anthropic, Microsoft and Google. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.) 

Meanwhile, data shows that whenever AI Overviews appear in search, there is a noticeable drop in clickthrough rate to the source material. Google claims that AI sends «higher quality clicks» to sites, meaning those visitors stay on those sites longer with more engagement. 

The outcome of the Penske lawsuit will likely have significant implications for publishers and AI companies, including Google.

«If Penske wins, it would likely lead to platforms needing to negotiate licensing deals with publishers for the right to include summaries in search or overview features,» said Robert Rosenberg, an intellectual property partner at Moses Singer, a New York-based firm. 

A ruling might also dictate what is considered «transformative» work — that is, not subject to copyright protections — or could lead to further regulatory pressure on Google, Rosenberg said. «This case highlights how dominant platforms can impose their own terms because of their scale.»

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MacBook Pro May Be Finally Getting a Touchscreen

The OLED MacBook Pro reportedly will break new ground with late 2026 launch.

Get your swiping fingers ready. According to a reliable insider, Apple will introduce touchscreen capability to the MacBook Pro for the first time with the launch of the OLED MacBook Pro in late 2026.

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Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst with TF International Securities, posted on X that the cheaper MacBook, scheduled to go into production later this year, will not have a touchscreen. However, he said it’s probable that the model’s second generation, slated for production in 2027, could get a touchscreen.

A representative for Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

After years of seeing how consumers use their iPads, Kuo believes that Apple realizes that «in certain scenarios, touch controls can enhance both productivity and the overall user experience.»

Read more: What exactly IS the best MacBook for you?

Apple has not confirmed the report. However, on Wednesday, Kuo listed numerous reports that have come true, including the iPhone Air specs, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and the iPhone 17 Dynamic Island staying the same size.

What’s next for the MacBook?

It’s been nearly two decades since Apple introduced the first MacBook. CNET’s Scott Stein believes that the iPad and MacBook platforms will eventually merge.

YouTuber Jon Rettinger, who has 1.65M subscribers, agrees that the iPad and MacBook are «on a collision course with unity» and that consumers are always looking for the next level of interaction and form factors: in this case, a touchscreen.

But with the devices and their operating systems merging, Rettinger says a big question mark is what’s next for the iPadOS. «How will that continue to evolve?»

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Technologies

New PS5 Update Lets DualSense Controllers Pair With Multiple Devices at the Same Time

A software update brings the controller pairing feature to all users and also adds a power-saving option for some games.

All you PlayStation 5 players can now pair your wireless DualSense controllers with up to four devices at a time and toggle among them. 

For some time, you’ve been able to pair your DualSense controllers not just with PS5s and other PlayStation consoles, but also with PCs, Macs, smartphones and other Bluetooth devices. But that pairing could happen with only one device at a time; using a different device with a DualSense required pairing all over again.

That changes now, with system update 25.05-12.00.00. PS5 owners who download and install the update, which is now available, can pair their DualSense controllers with up to four different devices. The new feature also works with DualSense Edge controllers.

How to enable and use multidevice pairing on DualSense controllers

To enable the feature (which has been available to beta testers since June):

  1. Hold the PS button for 5 seconds and then hold one of the action buttons (triangle, circle, square or X) until the light bar and player indicator flash twice.
  2. Turn on Bluetooth pairing on your device and select the DualSense controller.
  3. Once pairing is done on the other device, the light bar and player indicator light should blink in one of four slots.

To use the feature once you’ve assigned other devices:

  1. Make sure the device you want to switch to is on and has Bluetooth enabled.
  2. Hold the PS button and the action button that was assigned (triangle, circle, square or X)for 3 seconds.
  3. The player indicator light (1-4) should flash according to which device pairing has been activated.

For more detailed instructions and troubleshooting, click here. 

Other PS5 system updates

The PS5 system update also brings another new feature: Some games will support power saving, which reduces power consumption by scaling back game performance. You can enable or disable that for specific games by going to Settings > System > Power Saving > Use Power Saver.

In addition, Sony says, the update improves messages and usability on some system screens, as well as software performance and stability.

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Technologies

Forget the iPhone 17, the 2025 Moto G Power Is on Sale for a Record-Low $250

This midrange Motorola is one of our favorite budget-friendly phones on the market, and right now you can snag one for $50 off the usual price.

There’s a lot of buzz about the iPhone 17, which hits shelves this Friday. But not everyone wants to spend $800 (or substantially more) on the latest Apple phone. Motorola has some great options for those looking for a more affordable alternative, and right now you can grab one for even less.

Amazon has knocked $50 off the 2025 Motorola Moto G Power, which drops the price to a record-low $250. It’s also on sale at Motorola, where you’ll get an extra $100 in credit if you’re trading in an old phone.

CNET’s mobile device experts named the Moto G Power as the best phone you can get for less than $300, with Mike Sorrentino calling it the «lowest-priced Motorola phone worth buying.» It’s not the most advanced model on the market, but can still has the hardware needed to «handle the basics without breaking the bank.»

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If features a vibrant 6.8-inch display with FHD+ resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate, as well as an impressive 50-megapixel rear camera system that preforms surprisingly well in low light. Under the hood, it’s equipped with 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage and a Mediatek Dimensity 8100 CPU, as well as a respectable 5,000-mAh battery. It also has a unique «RAM Boost» feature that converts a small amount of available storage into virtual RAM to temporarily boost performance. Plus, it supports 5G connectivity and has durable IP68 design so its resistant to water and dust.

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Why this deal matters

As one of our favorite affordable models, the Motorola Moto G Power is already a decent value at full price, and a bargain whenever you can pick it up for less — especially a record-low price. It features decent specs and hardware, as well as a fairly rugged design, making it well worth the money at just $250.

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